” Birmingham has been chosen as one of six cities nationwide to serve as a pilot site for a national initiative on restoring relationships between law enforcement and citizens.

Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement today. The $4.7 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice was announced in April and is a partnership between federal officials and criminal justice experts focused on providing training, policy and research to address distrust between citizens and law enforcement.

The other pilot cities are: Ft. Worth, Gary, Indiana, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Stockton. The initiative comes after several high profile fatal police-involved shootings.”

This can only end badly . Considering that the Justice department does not exactly inspire faith in government how is it’s attempt to co-opt the police forces of numerous cities going to restore faith in law enforcement ? It’s just one more step towards the nationalization of police . Read more here

A message to the citizens of the FIRST six cities to fall under federal control; if you think your local PD is unresponsive to your pleas and that increasing the bureaucracy with a federal level of “supervision” will help , then you really have not been paying attention these last few years . You , and the rest of us , will rue the day that the Feds take over your law enforcement duties .

” Judicial Watch, a constitutionally conservative, non-profit educational foundation, has new evidence against Lois Lerner in the IRS Tea Party targeting case. Documents they’ve just obtained from the Department of Justice show that the former IRS official met with Department of Justice’s Election Crimes Division one month before the 2010 elections. The Justice Department has withheld more than 800 pages of documents in the Lerner investigation, citing “taxpayer privacy” and “deliberative privilege.”” These new documents dramatically show how the Justice Department is up to its neck in the IRS scandal and can’t be trusted to investigate crimes associated with the IRS abuses that targeted Obama’s critics. And it is of particular concern that the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which would ordinarily investigate the IRS abuses, is now implicated in the IRS crimes,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

Chris Farrell, director of research and investigations for Judicial Watch, talked more about the significance of these newly discovered DOJ meetings, on CBN News Today, Dec. 9. “

” The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of cellphones through fake communications towers deployed on airplanes, a high-tech hunt for criminal suspects that is snagging a large number of innocent Americans, according to people familiar with the operations.

The U.S. Marshals Service program, which became fully functional around 2007, operates Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan-area airports, with a flying range covering most of the U.S. population, according to people familiar with the program.

Planes are equipped with devices–some known as “dirtboxes” to law-enforcement officials because of the initials of the Boeing Co. BA, +0.26% unit that produces them–which mimic cell towers of large telecommunications firms and trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration information.”

” The early signs are that Loretta Lynch may share some of the same troubling views as outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, which makes it even more important that the Senate do a thorough review and vetting of her nomination by President Obama to be the new attorney general.

This is particularly true for those who understand how important the rule of law is to our constitutional system, something that Eric Holder has damaged during his tenure.

Lynch, who is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (which includes Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Nassau and Suffolk Counties), has made it clear that she would continue Holder’s war on election integrity.

In a speech at the Long Beach Martin Luther King Center in New York in January, Lynch claimed that efforts to improve the integrity of the election process were an attempt “to take back” what Martin Luther King, Jr. had fought for and that state legislatures were trying to “reverse” the gains made in voting. Lynch made it clear she approved of the Justice Department’s lawsuits against states such as North Carolina to stop voter ID laws and changes in early voting and same-day registration rules, saying such suits “will continue.”

In her speech, Lynch apparently did not realize the irony of standing in front of a picture of Nelson Mandela while making this false claim against voter ID laws, given that South Africa has a much stricter voter ID requirement that was supported by Mandela. Members of the Senate owe it to voters to question Lynch intensely on this issue and should be troubled at the prospects of anyone who would continue Eric Holder’s policy of going after states for trying to protect the integrity of the election process. “

Here’s an idea , how about we get an Attorney General that works for everyone and not just one race …

” It’s white. It’s square. And at 1-by-1 inch in diameter, it is the perfect accoutrement to any entrepreneur’s smartphone.

With its quick swipe capability and ultimate portability, the high-tech Square Reader credit-card processor has become an invaluable tool in today’s economy.

How high-tech credit card vendors and customers get their Second Amendment rights infringed.

Taxi drivers use it—as do trade-show vendors, online retailers and home contractors.

It is, as the company’s slogan says, a “small credit card reader” that offers “big possibilities.” But some of those big possibilities are apparently being foreclosed by the Obama administration.

Last summer, around the same time the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point began pressuring banks to drop customers who buy or sell firearms, tobacco and other goods considered “not acceptable” by the Obama administration, Square quietly changed its terms of agreement.

In an alert regarding a change of terms, Square notified vendors:

…you will not accept payments in connection with the following businesses or business activities: …sales of (i) firearms, firearm parts or hardware, and ammunition; or (ii) weapons and other devices designed to cause physical injury. “

” Well, this is unfortunate. After yesterday’s back and forth between the DOJ and the EFF over the ongoing destruction of key evidence in the Jewel v. NSA case, the court ordered an emergency hearing for this afternoon. About an hour before the hearing, the DOJ presented its opposition to the temporary restraining order, arguing, basically, that it would be too damn complicated to stop destroying evidence in the case. Part of this is because the data collected under the Section 702 program apparently isn’t just one big database, but is quickly fed into all sorts of other systems.”

” “And on the subject of the use of the president’s authority, my hope is – and I would argue that he take whatever action is possible, as he has done in a number of steps already and as you have done in trying to clarify the mental health issues that have to be reported to the NIC system, my hope is that additional measures, executive actions are contemplated under that authority,” Blumenthal continued.

“ The president – it is his intention to again try to work with Congress, but in the absence of meaningful action to explore all the possibilities and use all the powers that he has to, frankly, just protect the American people,” Holder replied.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked Holder to explain the constitutional authority under which Obama has decided to grab his pen and paper in lieu of the legislative branch.”

” The Obama administration is issuing new recommendations on classroom discipline that seek to end the apparent disparities in how students of different races are punished for violating school rules.

Civil rights advocates have long said that a “school-to-prison” pipeline stems from overly zealous school discipline policies targeting black and Hispanic students that bring them out of school and into the court system.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the problem often stems from well intentioned “zero-tolerance” policies that too often inject the criminal justice system into the resolution of problems. Zero tolerance policies, a tool that became popular in the 1990s, often spell out uniform and swift punishment for offenses such as truancy, smoking or carrying a weapon. Violators can lose classroom time or become saddled with a criminal record.

“ Ordinary troublemaking can sometimes provoke responses that are overly severe, including out of school suspensions, expulsions and even referral to law enforcement and then you end up with kids that end up in police precincts instead of the principal’s office,” Holder said.”

” CNN reports on the latest grisly fruit of the disastrous “Fast and Furious” gun-walking operation, in which Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department released a small number of carefully-tracked firearms across the Mexican border in a bid to take down drug kingpins, but forgot the “small,” “carefully-tracked,” and “take down drug kingpins” parts of the operation:

A dramatic shootout between authorities and suspected cartel gunmen at a Mexican seaside resort this month has ties to a botched U.S. gun operation.

A U.S. official said Tuesday that investigators have traced at least one firearm recovered at a December 18 gunfight in Puerto Peñasco, just across from the Arizona border, to Operation Fast and Furious.

How dramatic was this shootout, CNN?

The shootout in Puerto Peñasco, also called Rocky Point by Arizona tourists, two weeks ago left at least five suspected cartel gunmen dead, including possibly a high level Sinaloa cartel chief, according to Mexican authorities.

Witnesses reported hours of shooting and grenade explosions, with Mexican authorities using helicopters to attack fleeing suspected cartel gunmen on the ground.”

” Perez has faced questions about his misleading congressional testimony about his involvement in a quid pro quo deal with the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, that resulted in the dismissal of a Supreme Court case and taxpayers giving up a claim worth almost $200 million. He has refused to turn over private emails that he used to conduct Justice Department business and has refused to testify before the House despite a congressional subpoena. But apparently, that’s not all.

Now, David Weber, a lawyer representing current and former employees of the Civil Rights Division, which Perez oversaw, has sent out a press release accusing Perez of “substantial misconduct.” The employees, who are claiming whistleblower status, met with the staffs of Republican and Democratic Senators and turned over evidence of “disparate impact discrimination under the leadership of Mr. Perez.” This is significant because “disparate impact” is Perez’s favored legal theory—he has used it to pursue numerous businesses and other defendants in federal discrimination lawsuits.

The whistleblowers claim that Perez and his senior staff “began a widespread campaign” of discriminatory treatment against disabled employees as well as other employees “based on race; gender; age; and/or parental status.” The employees who opposed this discrimination were “subjected to an exceptionally hostile work environment and unlawful retaliation.” The whistleblowers include African-American, Hispanic, and female employees.”

” The Department of Social Justice is contemplating several charges against the racist George Zimmerman for his cold-blooded murder of the post-infant and minority representative Trayvon Martin.Evidence compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of Citizens has found Zimmerman to be guilty of at least several major civil rights-related crimes.

Having found no sign of racism in Zimmerman’s background, prosecutors plan to file charges of Involuntary Racism in the Commission of a Hate Crime, punishable by up to 20 years of labor in a correctional facility. Party officials believe this is the most appropriate charge based on the FBIC’s report ”

” In a move which could have dramatic ramifications, the Justice Department confirmed today that it will look
into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin to determine whether federal prosecutors should file criminal
charges against George Zimmerman in the wake of his acquittal.
The department opened an investigation into Martin’s death last year but stepped aside to allow the state
prosecution to proceed.
In a statement Sunday, the Justice Department said the criminal section of the civil rights division, the FBI
and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida are continuing to evaluate the evidence
generated during the federal probe, in addition to the evidence and testimony from the state trial.”

” Records obtained by Judicial Watch in response to local, state and federal public records requests show that the so-called peacekeepers are part of a large and growing division within DOJ called the Community Relations Service (CRS). Though CRS purports to spot and quell racial tensions nationwide before they arise, the documents obtained by Judicial Watch show the group actively worked to foment unrest, spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on travel and hotel rooms to train protestors throughout Florida. The peacekeepers also met with officials of the Republican National Convention, scheduled for several months later in Tampa, to warn them to expect protests in connection with Martin’s death.

In response to a Florida Sunshine Law request to the City of Sanford, Judicial Watch also obtained an audio recording of a “community meeting” held at Second Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford on April 19, 2012. “

” Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts company arguing that the contraception mandate contained in Obamacare violates the religious liberties of the company owners, “a majority of the court” believes the company has “established a likelihood of success” in making that argument and so does not have to pay fines for refusing to comply with the mandate as the case proceeds, a federal court ruled today.

“We hold that Hobby Lobby and Mardel are entitled to bring claims under [Religious Freedom Restoration Act], have established a likelihood of success that their rights under this statute are substantially burdened by the contraceptive-coverage requirement, and have established an irreparable harm,” the 10th Circuit Court ruled in the opinion released today.

The Justice Department wanted the court to dismiss the case on the theory that Hobby Lobby is almost certain to lose. “The preventive services coverage regulations do not substantially burden any “exercise of religion” by for-profit, secular companies and their owners,” DOJ argued last year. “Even if there were a substantial burden on religious exercise, the regulations serve compelling governmental interests and are the least restrictive means to achieve those interests.” “

What , pray tell are “compelling governmental interests” ? Just another indication of the diversion of interests between the People and their “servants” .

“Today’s ruling was the most decisive victory yet against the abortion-pill mandate,” said The Catholic Association’s Ashley McGuire said in a statement today. “The number of religious freedom victories against the mandate continues to mount, sending the clearest signal possible to the Obama administration that no employer, no matter where he or she works, should be forced to choose between violating his or her conscience and paying a fine. We hope that President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius will heed the court and give people of faith all over this country relief from this unjust mandate.” “

” The Muslim Brotherhood was handed a tactical defeat on June 4, 2013 in Manchester, TN. The FBI and DOJ (Department of Justice) appeared at a meeting called by AMAC (American Muslim Advisory Council — Muslim Brotherhood) in Manchester, TN. It was to include a talk by a US Assistant Attorney General and an FBI agent in charge. The meeting was due to a joke posted by a Coffee County Commissioner on Face Book. The DOJ Assistant Attorney General Killian said in a newspaper interview that the joke might be in the category of a hate crime.

Over 1200 people came from all over the US to a meeting in a town of 10,000. The web had buzzed about free speech in Manchester and talk radio chimed in .

In the course of the presentation by Killian, several in the audience began to shout our retorts to him. At first some in audience tried to shush them, but the momentum began to build and the shouted challenges increased in numbers and volume. It should be noted that the shouts were factual and knowledgeable. An example: when it was mentioned how hard it was to be a Muslim refugee: “Free medical care, welfare and scholarships tough to take?” When Killian said that DOJ protected voter rights, the shouts were to the tune of: “You mean like protecting the Panthers in Philadelphia?”

There were also knowledgeable shouts about Islam: “We don’t care about the religion, it’s the politics. No Sharia.”

When Killian mentioned Eric Holder, the room erupted with thunderous boos. People were angry about the Feds. The FBI agent presented a better face, but he got blow back as well. Chants of “Ruby Ridge” and “Waco” rang out. This was a “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” attitude.”

The people were quite boisterous and there are differing views as to the behavior of the crowd . We provide you with video of the entire event so that you can decide for yourselves .

” “If anyone thinks that what’s going on right now with all of this surveillance of American citizens is to fight some sort of foreign enemy, they’re delusional. If people think that this ‘scandal’ can’t get any worse, it will, hour by hour, day by day. This has the ability to bring down our national leadership, the administration and other senior elected officials working in collusion with this administration, both Republican and Democrats. People within the NSA, the Department of Justice, and others, they know who they are, need to come forth with the documentation of ‘policy and practice’ in their possession, disclose what they know, fight what’s going on, and just do their job. I have never seen anything like this, ever.

First, they intend to use the Justice Department to silence journalists like in the Rosen case, but they won’t stop there. They will use a host of national security policies, laws, letters, whatever to take out the bigger threats,” he stated.

Next, they will use some sort of excuse, an external threat, and I believe it will be a combination of the economic collapse and a Mid-East war that will begin in Syria to throttle the information that is accessible on the Internet. And you know what? People will believe it!”

Based on what I’ve seen, most of which I should not have seen, the DHS is co-ordinating efforts with other federal agencies to begin to threaten American citizens with incarceration for non-compliance. You know the old talk of color coded lists? Well, this is what they will be using. People exposing the truth about Benghazi, killing the U.S. Dollar, even those questioning Obama?s legal status and eligibility to be President are the current targets. And they’ve had five long years to get to this point. The ugly truth is that these policies and practices did not start under Obama, but long before. This is about the killing of our Constitutional Republic. The murder of our country and the stripping of our rights. While many have been preoccupied with one issue, few have seen the bigger issue. This is the ‘end game,’ for all the marbles,” he stated.”

” For awhile, it looked like the White House wanted just to control “the narrative.” But its seizure of AP phone records and surveillance of Fox employees now show its real aim: to control the news.

The Obama political team at the White House has always prided itself on its media savvy. After all, they got a candidate with an otherwise unsalable socialist past elected on a campaign that sold his personality, not his platform.

But it turns out their mastery of the press went a lot deeper than just the political arts. The latest news that the Justice Department investigated Fox News reporter James Rosen and two other newsmen in the normal course of their investigative reporting on a national security matter — coming on the heels of their seizure of Associated Press phone records — suggests an administration obsessed with controlling the news itself with a heavy hand reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.”

” President Obama’s press conference in the rain was not a success, if by success, his supporters would mean an event which convinces anyone who doesn’t work for him that he’s getting ahead of the scandal deluge. The sight of a Marine holding an umbrella over his head only added to the weirdness of the event.

So what did we learn?

4. He wouldn’t say that the White House had no previous knowledge of IRS wrongdoing. Instead he said he didn’t have any knowledge of the Inspector General’s report before it was released.

5. He brought up funding for our embassies, referencing Benghazi, Libya. But of course we know that funding shortages had nothing to do with the fiasco that transpired. For claiming otherwise my colleague Glenn Kessler awarded Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) three Pinocchios.

10. Mainstream media reaction to the president’s handling of the scandals ranges from bad to terrible. Sure there are some very creative excuse-makers for the president, but they are now in the decided minority.”

” It was Michael Barone who first wrote that Barack Obama was a practitioner of “gangster government.” Barone was right. The plethora of scandals now engulfing the administration, combined with all sort of prior scandals that a lapdog media largely ignored, show that this regime is thuggish beyond repair.

As they say in the game of bridge, “let’s review the bidding.”

* One of the most outrageous early examples of the vilest sort of hardball came in the case that we at The Washington Times(when I was there) called “Walpin-Gate.” When Gerald Walpin, the well-respected Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service, dared to point an unwanted focus on a close personal ally of the Obamas, not only did the White House fire himwithout the necessary notice to Congress but also smeared Mr. Walpin with the clear insinuation that he was becoming senile.

The message was clear: “Mess with us and we’ll mess with you in a way you ain’t never been messed before – and it’s gonna hurt.”

* Obama himself had two well-publicized, airport-tarmac run-ins with Republicans governors. “Careful,” he warned Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal when visiting the Bayou State after the oil spill. “This is going to get bad for everyone.” He also publicly berated Supreme Court justices during his State of the Union speech.

* Again and again, top Obama officials in federal agencies issue threats – sometimes veiled, sometimes explicit – to private citizens and businesses to not even say anything displeasing to Obamites. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius does it. The EPA has tried it repeatedly. The Obamites do it to the oil companies and to so many others that columnist David Freddoso has written a whole book about it.”

” The Justice Department sought the authority to spy on several thousand “United States persons” in 2012, according to a letter the department recently sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“These sought information pertaining to 6,233 different United States persons,” wrote Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik in the letter.

The report does not specify how many of these National Security Letter requests were granted. The requests differ from typical subpoenas, because they seek only non-content information (such as phone numbers, instead of the content of phone conversations) and do not require approval from the judicial branch. “

” Excerpted from FRONT PAGE MAG: As FOX News reported and Robert Spencer noted, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stopped talking once he was prematurely read his Miranda rights. That helps the authorities establish the lone wolf narrative. Whatever else we might have learned from him is probably lost.

Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.

After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney’s office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.”

“This is something that is going to have an impact on the safety of this country,” the U.S. attorney general told ABC’s Pierre Thomas on Wednesday in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview.

“And anybody that says otherwise is either lying or saying something that runs contrary to the facts,” Holder said.

“The Justice Department is going to lose nine percent of its budget between now and September 30th. We’re going to lose $1.6 billion. There are not going to be as many FBI agents, ATF agents, DEA agents, prosecutors who are going to be able to do their jobs,” Holder said. “They’re going to be furloughed. They’re going to spend time out of their offices, not doing their jobs.” ”

How does 2% budget-wide transfer to 9% of Justice’s budget … It’s not like Holder has made us safer anyway … Fast & Furious anyone ?

Conservative Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 during oral arguments today, signaling that a key provision of the landmark civil rights legislation might be struck down.Justice Antonin Scalia sparked controversy when he referred to Section 5 of the law as “the perpetuation of a racial entitlement,” sparking immediate backlash from the left.

Section 5 requires states with a “history of racial discrimination” to have any changes to their voting laws approved by the Justice Department’s civil rights division or Washington, D.C.’s federal court.

Scalia explained that he was not convinced the law was legitimate simply because Congress had voted to reauthorize it five times, most recently in 2006 by a 99-0 Senate vote and similarly overwhelming House vote. He said that the “normal political process” couldn’t be applied to this situation and questioned Congress’ political motives for reauthorization.

“Now, I don’t think that’s attributable to the fact that it is so much clearer now that we need this,” Scalia said of the VRA’s continued reauthorization, according to the Supreme Court transcript. “I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. It’s been written about. Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”

”

“I don’t think there is anything to be gained by any Senator to vote against continuation of this act,” he added. “And I am fairly confident it will be reenacted in perpetuity unless — unless a court can say it does not comport with the Constitution. You have to show, when you are treating different States differently, that there’s a good reason for it.”Later in oral arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor directly challenged Scalia’s assertions. She asked Bert Rein, the lawyer for the Alabama county challenging the legislation, if he agreed.

Do you think that the right to vote is a racial entitlement in Section 5?” she asked him.

He ducked her question. She asked again, but Rein would not say whether he agreed with Scalia’s comment.”

” The DOJ has told Congressional investigators that Aaron’s prosecution was motivated by his political views on copyright.

I was going to start that last paragraph with “In a stunning turn of events,” but I realized that would be inaccurate — because it’s really not that surprising. Many people speculated throughout the whole ordeal that this was a political prosecution, motivated by anything/everything from Aaron’s effective campaigning against SOPA to his run-ins with the FBI over the PACER database. But Aaron actually didn’t believe it was — he thought it was overreach by some local prosecutors who didn’t really understand the internet and just saw him as a high-profile scalp they could claim, facilitated by a criminal justice system and computer crime laws specifically designed to give prosecutors, however incompetent or malicious, all the wrong incentives and all the power they could ever want.

But this HuffPo article, and what I’m hearing from sources on the Hill, suggest that that’s not true. That Ortiz and Heymann knew exactly what they were doing: Shutting up, and hopefully locking up, an extremely effective activist whose political views, including those on copyright, threatened the Powers That Be:”